Favorite Holidays
Maybe I need to rethink my favorite holidays if we plan on living overseas. Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July don't seem like the best "favorite" holidays to have when living away from the States! However, it is always nice to see how American communities overseas celebrate these two quite American celebrations.
In Moldova this summer, Dan celebrated July 4 at a big picnic with the other Americans. It was quite large, and the food - well, he still talks about how good it was. In Finland, I celebrated July 4 on the dock over the lake. All we would have needed were some fireworks, and it would have felt like home.
Dan has fond memories of Thanksgivings celebrated with other Americans at a children's home near his hometown in Taiwan. And this week, of course, we celebrated our Thanksgiving here in the Netherlands. I'm not certain it is possible to celebrate a more historically meaningful Thanksgiving than the one we had two days ago. Before leaving for the New World, the Pilgrims,
you see, lived for more than 10 years in Leiden, a town about 30 minutes by train from Rotterdam. Every year on Thanksgiving the American community in the Netherlands assembles at Pieterskerk in Leiden, to give thanks to God. It was a strange moment when I thought to myself, "So this is what many expats do all over the world on Thanksgiving." Then I had to remind myself, "Well, no, they don't ALL have a church to go to that the Pilgrims themselves used!"
It was fun to be around so many Americans, with children dressed up like Pilgrims, the American school's band playing, and many reminders of all we have to be thankful for. And it was also good for me to hear that many Americans, like me, so desperately miss home on Thanksgiving in particular: to see the 250 pound, 6'4" man two rows ahead of me cry duing the singing of "America the Beautiful" helped me to understand that!
On a side note, despite my serious doubts of being able to have Thanksgiving dinner properly, I did find turkey AND cranberries. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie were missing, but we did just fine...
In Moldova this summer, Dan celebrated July 4 at a big picnic with the other Americans. It was quite large, and the food - well, he still talks about how good it was. In Finland, I celebrated July 4 on the dock over the lake. All we would have needed were some fireworks, and it would have felt like home.
Dan has fond memories of Thanksgivings celebrated with other Americans at a children's home near his hometown in Taiwan. And this week, of course, we celebrated our Thanksgiving here in the Netherlands. I'm not certain it is possible to celebrate a more historically meaningful Thanksgiving than the one we had two days ago. Before leaving for the New World, the Pilgrims,
you see, lived for more than 10 years in Leiden, a town about 30 minutes by train from Rotterdam. Every year on Thanksgiving the American community in the Netherlands assembles at Pieterskerk in Leiden, to give thanks to God. It was a strange moment when I thought to myself, "So this is what many expats do all over the world on Thanksgiving." Then I had to remind myself, "Well, no, they don't ALL have a church to go to that the Pilgrims themselves used!"It was fun to be around so many Americans, with children dressed up like Pilgrims, the American school's band playing, and many reminders of all we have to be thankful for. And it was also good for me to hear that many Americans, like me, so desperately miss home on Thanksgiving in particular: to see the 250 pound, 6'4" man two rows ahead of me cry duing the singing of "America the Beautiful" helped me to understand that!
On a side note, despite my serious doubts of being able to have Thanksgiving dinner properly, I did find turkey AND cranberries. Sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie were missing, but we did just fine...
posted by Beth at 3:23 PM
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